1. having or showing a desire to cause harm to someone or something

Examples

• The malicious rumors spread quickly through the school.
• She gave him a malicious smile before revealing his secret.
• The hacker launched a malicious attack on the company’s servers.
• His malicious comments were meant to hurt her feelings.
• The malicious software infected thousands of computers.
• There was nothing malicious about her criticism; she was trying to help.